HIV: MEDICAL TREATMENTS-ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE: DIETARY MODIFICATION
Dietary modification can mean almost anything. Certainly, physicians practicing traditional medicine say that good nutrition is an important part of health care for someone with HIV infection. Practitioners of alternative treatments usually define dietary modification as certain diets or food supplements that inhibit the growth of HIV or that enhance the immune system. Probably the most popular of the alternative diets is a macrobiotic diet. Macrobiotic diets are said to balance foods with yin (foods which form acids in the body) and foods with yang (foods which form alkalines in the body). The macrobiotic diet consists largely of vegetables and grains. It excludes red meat, commercially raised poultry, all processed foods, polished rice, dairy products, leavened breads, and sugars. Dietitians say that a macrobiotic diet lacks essential nutrients and is potentially harmful. Other practitioners of dietary modification advocate food supplements—a list of certain substances said to inhibit the growth of HIV or enhance the immune system. None of these supplements has, by the standards of traditional medicine, established that they will help. Some of the most common supplements are the following: Acidophilus, a bacterium available without prescription in drugstores and health food stores that is supposed to produce a healthy intestinal tract. Acidophilus is harmless. AL721, a substance derived from egg yolk that is supposed to inhibit the growth of HIV. AL721 was tested in scientific studies; though found to be useless against HIV, it is also harmless. Coenzyme Q10, an antioxidant that is supposed to improve the immune system. It is harmless. Garlic, which is widely advocated in herbal medicine and is available in an odorless and tasteless form called kyolic. It is harmless. Lecithin, which is related to AL721 and is harmless. Lentinan, an extract from mushrooms, called mushroom power or Lentil, is said to act against HIV. It is harmless. Vitamin C, which is often advocated in large doses for HIV infection and a whole host of other medical conditions. Advocates often recommend taking 1,000 milligrams or more a day. Vitamin C has also been studied scientifically, to see if it combats colds and cancer; it does not. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) of Vitamin C, 60 milligrams a day, is certainly good for you. Most people get more than the RDA in a standard diet. The large doses advocated in alternative medicine can cause stomach pain and diarrhea. They can also corrode the teeth—practitioners advocate taking large doses by straw. Vitamin A, also advocated in large doses, which are said to promote the growth of CD4 cells. The RDA for Vitamin A, 3,000 International Units per day, is good for you; doses of 100,000 International Units per day for three months or more can cause dry and itchy skin, sore mouth, loss of hair, vomiting, headaches, drowsiness, and liver damage. Zinc, a metal that occurs in traces in the body. In the later stages of HIV infection, concentrations of zinc in the body seem to decrease. Taking zinc as a supplement, however, can cause nausea and vomiting and is possibly harmful. Selenium, another trace metal that also seems to occur in lower concentrations in people in the later stages of HIV infection. Excess selenium causes damage to cells; taking selenium as a supplement is possibly harmful.*194\191\2*
